TFU | May 20-26, 2017

Starting with the next update, we are shifting to a Monday morning distribution. We believe this will better align us with the weekly news cycle and help limit the chances of missing stories that break on Friday afternoons (not to mention kicking your week off on the right foot!) Thanks for your continued interest in and support of the Fintech Update, and we’ll see you again on Monday, June 5. Enjoy the long weekend!

Best, Joe and Austin

Leading Off

The NYDFS wants state legislators to prevent online lenders from imposing out-of-state interest rates on in-state borrowers; TransferWise announced “borderless” accounts, allowing users to open multiple accounts in different currencies; Canada’s central bank concluded that DLT technology is not ready to “underpin” the financial system; Singapore’s financial regulator helped launch a new network to connect and foster Southeast Asian fintech innovators; and the R3 consortium raised $107 million.

R3 raises $107M. The R3 blockchain consortium raised $107 million from nearly half of its constituent members, including large banks such as ING, Barclays, and UBS. It was the “largest funding round in the history of [DLT].” According to R3, this raise was “just the first two of three tranches in its Series A round, with the third [coming] later this year.”

MAS and IFC launch SE Asia fintech network. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) partnered with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, to launch the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network. The IFC and MAS intend to use the network to “encourage fintech innovation…local compliance and cross-border compatibility in the region.”